Events, highlights and media coverage through the year.
18th December, 2024
*** Press Release – for immediate use ***
MAA sends support to our sisters in WASPI and urges them to keep fighting for what is right.
In the wake of the news that the government will not financially compensate WASPI women, MAA members, many of whom have been impacted by both state pension changes as well as historic forced adoption practices, stand in full support with WASPI campaigners.
The Ombudsman, Rebecca Hilsenrath, recommended that the government provide a flat-rate compensation scheme to pay out £1,000 to £2,950 to each of the more than 3 million women affected, at a cost of £10.5b. She also recommended that the government should apologise and compensate the WASPI women for maladministration and injustice. The government has apologised but offered no compensation.
She continues, “although the government accepts that it delayed writing to 1950s-born women by 28 months, and has apologised, it has rejected paying compensation.” She added, “What we don’t expect is for an acknowledgement to be made by a public body that it’s got it wrong but then refuse to make it right for those affected.”
Speaking on behalf of MAA, Diana Defries says, “It is simply not good enough to issue a limp apology. Sadly, we at MAA understand only too well the sense of injustice that many 1950’s women feel at being let down by the government. We too, the mothers whose children were taken and those children who are now adults, are also due a robust genuine apology and supportive measures, as recommended by the Parliamentary Inquiry in 2022.
We have also been very badly let down.
Serious questions must be asked about how and why the UK government is treating older women with such disrespect.”
For more contact:- maa.adoptionapology@gmail.com
10 December, 2024
*** Press Release – for immediate use ***
“The Movement for an Adoption Apology (MAA) are very grateful to Dr Michael Lambert and ITV’s Sarah Corker for their vital work, which highlighted recently obtained records that reveal that 197 babies from mother and baby homes are buried in mass burial grounds, across England.
MAA represents the hundreds of thousands of women who had their babies taken from them for forced adoption and the (now adult) adoptees who had everything taken from them in that moment of separation.
Speaking on behalf of their many members, Diana Defries said:
“Now we have proof of the inhumane treatment of vulnerable young women and their babies. It’s unthinkable that Church run homes in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and beyond, disregarded the rights of young mothers and their babies in such a callous way.
Sadly, we at MAA are not surprised. Over the years many women have shared their heart breaking personal experiences with us. Whilst our sympathies are wholeheartedly with families directly connected with these terrible revelations, we believe the government is not only responsible, but negligent.
It is time for the government to come clean. Time to commission research across the range of reported human rights breaches which they are aware of but have chosen to ignore.
We urge the government to uphold the findings of the 2022 Parliamentary Inquiry, and to issue a formal Public Apology to all affected, bolstered by appropriate support measures, without delay, in order to help the women and adoptees who were treated so atrociously.
Experiences from which most will never fully recover.”
— Ends —
10 December, 2024
Tonight, on ITV News – more revelations about the scale of neglect and cruelty throughout England, and the babies who died in Mother and Baby homes and were buried in unmarked graves.
26th November, 2024
22nd November 2024
Members of the MAA Committee visit Belfast – at their own expense – to see the play, “The Marian Hotel” and to find out more about Irish Mother and Baby homes, the last of which closed in 1996.
The performance was followed by a Question and Answer session with the writer, Catriona Cunningham, a survivor of the home who managed to keep her baby, and Professor Phil Scraton, who is involved with the Truth Gathering and other activities that precede the forthcoming Public Inquiry there.
19th November, 2024
One of our committee members, Karen Constantine, who is currently the Labour County Councillor for Ramsgate in Kent (and who was in a mother and baby home in 1978), has spent 18 months researching and interviewing people about their experiences of forced adoption. Her pathbreaking book, Taken: Experiences of Forced Adoption has just been published.
It details for the first time in the U.K. the lived experiences of those who had their babies taken, and the lasting traumatic impact on them.
Speaking about the new book, Dr. Michael Lambert says:
“It lifts the veil of secrecy, shame and stigma which surrounds adoption past and present. It is the first to capture the harsh realities of this injustice which happened within living memory. Her book shines a light on the scale of the shocking violation of human rights through sensitive, emotive conversations with those affected. The traumatic, lifelong consequences for those with lived experience resounds page after page. Written with conviction, compassion and clarity, Taken conveys the lifelong, intergenerational consequences of adoption beyond the moment of separation for mother and child alone. These consequences are still being lived by hundreds of thousands across the UK and are far from ‘historic’. Karen goes beyond these similar and familiar private tragedies of severance, loss and grief. She recognises that they are greater than the sum of their parts, laying the blame for such evident widespread harm firmly at the door of church, state, and their public policies. Where it rightly belongs. Babies were taken, not given, and for this, the government owes all of those who shared their stories in this book at the very least, an apology.“
Dr Michael Lambert | Research Fellow
Director of Widening Participation
Co-I: Mapping Underdoctored Areas
Karen says, “Until joining MAA, I actually had no idea of the scale of the practice, which I personally found dehumanising. The shame that was instilled in me has been a lifelong companion – and I was extremely fortunate in keeping my child in 1978. Even so the pain and bafflement endured. I decided to do what I could as a politician to seek remedy, and my book documents the failure of Ministers of all political parties to act. Which is truly shameful. I hope Taken enables people to feel seen, to heal a little, and that it applies pressure on the current government to act. Which they need to do as a matter of urgency.
The U.K. government is wrong to leave this important issue unaddressed in a state of permanent deferment.
You can buy a signed copy of Taken here http://prampublications.com/
16 November 2024
In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of the UK) the investigations into Mother & Baby homes and the Truth Gathering process are gathering momentum.
Marianvale Mother & Baby Home, Newry
Private Nursing homes “used to secretly house women and babies’
BBC on raising awareness of Irish forced adoptions
Meanwhile, in England, the Government does nothing.
31 October, 2024
The Diocese of Carlisle has announced plans to create a memorial to commemorate the babies that died in St. Monica’s Mother and Baby home, and were buried in unmarked graves.
17th October, 2024
17th October, 2024
ITV News covered – babies in unmarked graves
St. Monica’s Mother and Baby Home, Kendal
More news coverage and the latest information on the baby deaths in St. Monica’s Kendal.
17th October, 2024
Update from MAA Committee member, Karen Constantine
Author and Kent County Councillor for Ramsgate
After many months of pushing I finally met with Minister Janet Daby, who has responsibility for the formal adoption apology in the new Labour government. Other attendees at the meeting included other senior DfE staff, Emma Davies Deputy Director for Adoption, Kinship and Alternatives to Care, and Special Adviser, Tim Waters, special Adviser to Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities.
The case was made. There was no frills, no deviations, just facts, facts, facts. I told them they must apologise and followed it up with a very detailed note which includes MAAs list of recommendations.
This has been acknowledged.
Today, due to pressure from ITV & their fantastic journalist Sarah Corker, Minister Bridget Phillipson was filmed saying, “What happened there was completely and utterly unacceptable.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also said her department was urgently looking at the findings of the ITV News investigation, which uncovered baby deaths and forced adoptions at homes for unmarried mothers. This refers primarily to St Monica’s in Kendall. But of course we all know this and experienced ‘utterly unacceptable treatment’ ourselves.
The government know this. I believe they know that they must apologise.
It is now vital that you do all you can to support MAA! Distribute our leaflets, sign our petition or — if you’re able — make a small donation to keep the organisation going.
We need to ramp up the pressure now.
16th October, 2024
Further allegations of abuse and neglect at a former church-run mother and baby home in Cumbria have emerged, following an ITV News investigation. Earlier this year it was revealed that 45 babies who died at St Monica’s Mother and Baby home in Kendal were buried in an unmarked mass grave in the town’s cemetery.
St Monica’s was one of hundreds of homes for unmarried mothers across England.
Read the full article here.
11th September, 2024
BBC News report on new film “The Removed”, which focuses on the lifelong impact of forced adoption.
30th August, 2024
Mass grave, forced adoptions, babies denied medical attention
3rd August, 2024
Jill Killington told her story to Jackie Annett of the Daily Mirror.
Click here for the full article.
19th July, 2024
St. Monica’s, Kendal – call for further investigation
9 July, 2024
ITV News – Forced Adoption
The women haunted by forced adoptions, looking for answers.
30 June, 2024
Veronica Smith (neé Agius) – 1940-2024
Remembering Veronica Smith, one of MAA’s co-founders, who passed away on 29th June, 2024.
1 June 2024
MAA Open Day – Covent Garden, London
A huge ***Thank You*** to everyone who took part in our Open Day on Saturday 1st June. Each speaker gave us insights, information and a unique perspective on the issues, and the opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones was so special. If you’d like us to set up another MAA gathering, please let us know!
With a General Election looming we’re working on to make sure the campaign is brought to the attention of as many politicians as possible. They need to know what we endured and be made aware of the recommended measures to accompany any Apology. Please download a copy and check that we’ve covered every aspect – if we need to ask for something else in addition to what is in the document, we want to know.
More on this soon.
23 April, 2024
Jill Killington recorded this powerful interview on BBC radio – The Late Show, on 23 April.
22 March, 2023
The Fallen, Musical Production in Scotland Coverage by the BBC on the first anniversary of the Scottish Apology.
Click here for a review of the show which took place in May 2024.
6-8 March, 2024
TUC Women’s Conference, London
MAA was present at the TUC Women’s Conference which took place in central London.
We also have a new Petition and would appreciate your support. Please sign and help us press for a formal Apology.
If you prefer use your phone, please use the QR code shown to access the petition. Thank you!
BBC Radio Kent – Interview with Karen Constantine
On International Women’s Day BBC Radio Kent chose to cover the topic of forced adoption. Between the 1940s and 1970s an estimated 250,000 mothers, possibly twice that, were forced to give away their babies for adoption. Social stigmas and attitudes of authorities, including the Church and the UK Government supported mother and baby homes, where newborns were forcibly handed over.
Karen Constantine, Kent County Councillor for Ramsgate was sent to such a home in the 70s and told her story to reporter, Michael Keohan.
Karen is also supporting the Movement for an Adoption Apology in their campaign to get the UK Government to officially apologise for its role in the practise of forced adoption.
Read more from Karen at http://karen4labour.uk
23 February, 2024
Ann Lloyd Keen with son, Mark – interview with Jeremy Vine
14th January, 2024
Politics Southeast interview with Veronica Smith
Forced Adoption – Seaford mother calls for a government apology.
